He said that while Mr Farage was on the European Parliament fisheries committee he attended just one out of 43 meetings.

"You are a fraud, Nigel. Go back down the river because you are up one without a canoe or a paddle."

Speaking to reporters accompanying him on the Thames, Mr Farage branded the Geldof protest "just disgusting".

He added that Geldof was "deeply ignorant about how the Common Fisheries Policy works" and "it ill befits multi-millionaires coming to drown out ordinary men and women from the fishing industry who have come to have a fair say".

Mr Farage said: "We used to protest against the establishment and now the establishment protests against us. We must be getting something right."

He added: "The Common Fisheries Policy works on the principle of equal access to the common resource. What that means is that we have to share the fish in our waters with the rest of the European Union.

"Sensible countries like Norway, the Faroes and Iceland do no such thing. These industries, these communities have been devastated now for decades and they have come here today to be heard."

The flotilla, which involved around 30 vessels, passed Parliament as David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn engaged each other at Prime Minister's Questions.

The Prime Minister said the UK fishing industry had grown by around 20% thanks to Government reforms, and insisted it would be hit with tariffs on the sale of fish if Britain pulled out of the EU.

Mr Cameron spoke after Mr Corbyn criticised the Government for giving the majority of its fishing quota to large companies, urging people to "stop blaming Brussels".

He said the industry and his community had been badly hit by the EU rules and added: "I hope my countrymen have the courage, like the men who went into the trenches, to say 'we are going to be a free nation again and we are going to flourish great and free'."

Despite the occasionally rowdy scenes on the water, a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman described the event as "good natured on both sides".

The Port of London Authority (PLA) oversaw the vessels and spoke to Leave and Remain campaigners about excessive noise near HMS Belfast in the Pool of London.